China unveils five-year plan to strengthen industrial foundation, upgrade manufacturing

China on Thursday released a five-year plan to accelerate upgrading of its industrial foundation capabilities, in a further step toward building an innovation-driven manufacturing powerhouse.

The document, jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other government departments, calls for integrated efforts in technological breakthroughs and their application, addressing weaknesses in China's industrial foundation systematically, and achieving a comprehensive upgrade toward stronger innovation, greater self-reliance and higher quality.

Industrial foundation, the bedrock of manufacturing competitiveness, covers a range of areas including core components, basic materials and foundational software, as well as related talents, market conditions and the policy environment.

While China has built the world's largest and most complete industrial system over the past decades, its industrial foundation remains a weak link, experts said.

As China pursues high-quality economic development and advances its new industrialization drive, the strengthening and upgrading of its industrial foundation has become increasingly critical.

According to the plan issued on Thursday, the weaknesses in China's industrial foundation will be significantly alleviated by 2030, while China's overall industrial foundation capabilities will reach internationally advanced levels, thereby providing strong support for building a modern industrial system anchored in advanced manufacturing.

A new cohort of single-champion manufacturers and "little giant" specialized enterprises in the industrial foundation sector should also be cultivated by then, the plan says.

China unveils five-year plan to strengthen industrial foundation, upgrade manufacturing

China's shipbuilding industry maintained its leading position in the world across the three major indicators in the first nine months this year, according to data released on Friday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

From January to September, the country's shipbuilding output reached 58.05 million deadweight tonnes (DWT), up 50.7 percent year on year and accounting for 63.6 percent of the global total, the data showed.

New orders totaled 175.29 million DWT during the period, surging 163.2 percent from a year earlier and representing 81.8 percent of the global market share.

As of the end of September, the sector's holding orders stood at 399.13 million DWT, up 64.8 percent year on year. This volume accounted for 72.4 percent of the global total.

The proportion of China's new orders of green energy-powered ships reached 74.1 percent of the global total, up 5.7 percentage points compared with the January-June period.

"China has received over two thirds of the world's new orders of green energy-powered ships this year. In fact, the volume of new orders of green energy-powered ships received by China in the first half of the year already exceeded that of the whole of last year. The sector's economic benefits will rise significantly, and may even surpass the historical peak. That will make a positive contribution to the growth of the industrial economy," said Li Yanqing, vice chairman of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

China's shipbuilding maintains leading position in Jan-Sept: ministry data